Smart is Cool (a new FIRST song)

[Jeremytice]

Like others said, im not into rap but since the song is about FIRST it was awsome. Great job!

[Andy Grady]

What? No F-I-R-S-T anywhere in the song?

Big improvement over the anthems that FIRST tried to do last season.

[Rohith Surampudi]

[parliamentary procedure]Motion to replace the FIRST theme song with "Smart Is Cool"[/parliamentary procedure]

[Mazin]

Try listening to it 2x speed. Backwards.

Edit: Why was this put in a zip archive? To save 0.04MiB of space?

[BlondeNerd]

simply...amazing. I, too, typically dislike rap, but this one is awesome! Just one more field to relate FIRST to: music!!

[Mazin]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

plus FIRST's fundamentally is against megastars and such.

Not that Woody and Kamen are famous or anything.

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

I'm not a huge fan of the idea of having a song for FIRST, or about FIRST. There's too much to represent and many different view points, plus FIRST's fundamentally is against megastars and such.

I think some sort of high paced instrumental piece would be better than anything with lyrics, but I guess that's just me.

It isn't so much that FIRST is against megastars really it is just that Dean thinks that people who do things that effect society, like scientists and engineers should be at the same level. Dean was actually the one who started the whole song idea. It seems that if a song is a way to get kids to hear about the program then it is a very good idea. I don't think any one could write a song that could truely encompass all of FIRST, nor is that at all what people are trying to do. The song is instead just an attention getter, something to catch someones interest.

If you go back to when championships were at Disney(I wasn't there but based on what I have heard) FIRST had Mandy Moore perform and Will smith do a little video clip. Dean doesn't want to get rid of the megastars, just get engineers up there with them

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

It isn't so much that FIRST is against megastars really it is just that Dean theinks that people who do things that effect society, like scientists and engineers should be at the same level. Dean was actually the one who started the whole song idea. It seems that if a song is a way to get kids to hear about the program then it is a very good idea. I don't think any one could write a song that could truely encompass all of FIRST, nor is that at all what people are trying to do. The song is instead just an attention getter, something to catch someones interest.

If you go back to when championships were at Disney(I wasn't there but based on what I have heard) FIRST had Mandy Moore perform and Will smith do a little video clip. Dean doesn't want to get rid of the megastars, just get engineers up there with them

Lets pretend my ears didn't bleed when I heard the song. The cross between megastars (and I mean this as a song/actor type situation, not inventor megastars) and FIRST has never gone well and will not go well. People LAUGHED at the Nats back then when Mandy took the stage and when Will Smith behind all his trophies told us to keep doing great things as he made loads of money (go do a CD search if you don't believe me). FIRST is not about splash and artificiality, it's about much more than any song can cover.

Now to the song itself. It's bad, and I know I'll probably get neg repped, but it's not my musical style. Now, this is not true about many others, but I have a question: what if this was death metal? Punk? Ska? Country? We're talking about a subjective medium here. My problem comes from the idea that we should have an OFFICIAL FIRST SONG to be played at all the competitions. Would you want your friends to hear this song? Would you want to play it in the car?

Now I'm going off to go listen to The Current....

[Noah Melamed]

I've got to say i like it. I think it has broad appeal and a pretty good message. I think it has alot of potential to amplify FIRST's appeal.

rap is: genre of African-American music of the 1980s and 1990s in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment; several forms of rap have emerged
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

rap is about your life expierence. yeah the media and the world is focusing on gangsters telling their stories but you know what more than gangsters have stories to tell.

Some rock bands sing about anarchy and death, others sing about christianity. Don't hammer down a broad genre based on one style, FIRST is about opening your mind and thinking outside the box.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

My problem comes from the idea that we should have an OFFICIAL FIRST SONG to be played at all the competitions. Would you want your friends to hear this song? Would you want to play it in the car?

I agree... there should be no "official FIRST song".

In this case, this is just a song about FIRST. There is a difference. No one from FIRST asked the artist of this song to create it. (heck, we don't even know what they think about it in Manchester) He just did it 'cause he thinks FIRST is a good program and wanted to help in his way.

For each his own. Some people create designs for FIRST. Some people volunteer at FIRST events. Some people create FIRST-related podcasts. Some people make FIRST-related rap songs. It's all good.

Andy B.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

For each his own. Some people create designs for FIRST. Some people volunteer at FIRST events. Some people create FIRST-related podcasts. Some people make FIRST-related rap songs. It's all good.

To add to what Andy is saying, people do these things because they care about FIRST. They carry a passion and because of the passion, want to help FIRST grow. When offering opinions we can be gracious and kind and we can be respectful of the effort. That is what matters.

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

Lets pretend my ears didn't bleed when I heard the song. The cross between megastars (and I mean this as a song/actor type situation, not inventor megastars) and FIRST has never gone well and will not go well. People LAUGHED at the Nats back then when Mandy took the stage and when Will Smith behind all his trophies told us to keep doing great things as he made loads of money (go do a CD search if you don't believe me). FIRST is not about splash and artificiality, it's about much more than any song can cover.

Now to the song itself. It's bad, and I know I'll probably get neg repped, but it's not my musical style. Now, this is not true about many others, but I have a question: what if this was death metal? Punk? Ska? Country? We're talking about a subjective medium here. My problem comes from the idea that we should have an OFFICIAL FIRST SONG to be played at all the competitions. Would you want your friends to hear this song? Would you want to play it in the car?

Now I'm going off to go listen to The Current....

When Dean was on the Colbert report the reception on here was great. I hate to say it but no matter how many inventors and politicians show up at competitions and are impressed the general public, the people who really need to hear FIRST's message are not going to care, until FIRST has things like celebrity spokes people It will never enter the mainstream, and the majority of people will never get it's message. Traditional views of engineering are not appealing to the majority of people, the reason that kids want to become actors, athletes singers etc is because those fields are prominent, the only way for FIRST and engineering to become as prominent as these mega stars is to do what these mega stars do. FIRST has borrowed from these areas in the past, hence why many regionals are in sports arenas, why there is loud music like a sporting event, and why there is lighting like concerts. It seems like songs may just be another media. This is not going to be a hit pop song(most likely) maybe it would fit better as the background track for a commercial, or maybe it will just get laughed at like Mandy Moore. However I think that the song idea that Dean had last year may be worth a try and I also believe that this song stands head and shoulders above the two we heard last year. To say that FIRST will not be able to cross with mega stars seems like an admission of defeat. In a battle with Mega stars engineers wont win in the eyes of the public. but with mega stars FIRST and Dean's ideas could get a huge boost.

As a audio geek, I feel I must post my feelings on this song. Whoever did the recording has the perfect mix, with excellent levels. I've gotta give props to whoever did this.

As for rap, not so much, but this is clearly an exception. awesome job!

[csi235]

Originally Posted by Rohith Surampudi

[parliamentary procedure]Motion to replace the FIRST theme song with "Smart Is Cool"[/parliamentary procedure]

[parliamentary procedure]I second that motion.[/parliamentary procedure]

BTW, I also dislike rap, but I like this song. The only song in my playlist (the rest are podcasts).

[Tonya Scott 476]

The FIRST Rap song is awesome. Great job. I've been waiting for the robot rap for a long time.

Good luck this upcoming season.